Francis M. Macatanguay, «Mistos and Irony in the Book of Tobit»
The deuterocanonical Book of Tobit is a delightful story that employs ironic flourishes in its narrative. The word mistos which literally means 'wages' and figuratively connotes 'reward' appears frequently in the story. It is argued that the narrative use of the word participates in dramatic irony. As a rhetorical strategy, the irony addresses the limitations of the title character’s espousal of the traditional typology for reward and punishment.
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578 FRANCIS M. MACATANGAY
to all cases of irony. D.C. Muecke may have summed up these traits best
by distinguishing three essential and interdependent requirements of irony.
Concisely put, irony is a double-layered or two-tiered phenomenon that in-
volves an opposition or perception of contrast or incongruity between the
layers and that includes an element of innocence or unawareness 7.
In general, there are two kinds of irony, verbal and situational. Verbal
irony is involved when there is a contrast between the expressed and the
intended meanings of a word in a given sentence. In other words, the
speaker says one thing but means another, communicating something dif-
ferent from the literal meaning of the utterance. Situational irony, on the
other hand, involves a disparity or polar opposition between reality and
the semblance of things, between actuality and expectation. In short, what
a person does and believes in is often incongruous with how things actu-
ally are. Dramatic irony, which can be considered a specific type of situ-
ational irony when it takes place in a drama, is found when there is “a
contrast between the inaccurate perception of a situation by at least one
character and the perception of the real situation by the reader†or by an-
other character 8. It is the contention of this study that the use of μισθός
in the book exhibits or participates in dramatic irony.
II. Tobit and μισθός
The first appearance of μισθός in the narrative is in the episode that de-
scribes a domestic altercation between Tobit and his wife Anna. Μισθός is
used here thrice (2,12.14). Anna had become the family breadwinner (2,11-
14), and so the quarrel arose partly due to the bonus on top of the μισθός
which came about because of the reversal of roles as husband and wife 9.
After Tobit becomes blind and unable to work and after Ahiqar, his
nephew who had supported him for two years, departed for Elymais, his
7
See D.C. MUECKE, The Compass of Irony (London 1969) 19-20. Perhaps,
irony can be more multi-layered than simply double-layered. For instance,
one character could have one level of knowledge that another character is not
privy to, but at the same time the reader might have a deeper level of know-
ledge that neither character is privy to.
8
J.-L. SKA, “Our Fathers Have Told Usâ€. Introduction to the Analysis of
Hebrew Narratives (Subsidia Biblica 13; Rome 2000) 60. See also the entry
on irony in M.H. ABRAMS, A Glossary of Literary Terms (Fort Worth, TX
7
1999) 134-138.
9
See J.R.C. COUSLAND, “Tobit: A Comedy in Error?â€, CBQ 65 (2003)
544-545. LEVINE, “Diaspora as Metaphorâ€, 51, believes that Anna’s venture
beyond the confines traditionally given to women caused the confusion and
marital discord.